It’s the day before Thanksgiving so you’re probably in your hometown. Tonight, it’s time to head to your local dive bar for the biggest unofficial high school reunion.

Once that kid from the back of your Spanish class is done telling you about his divorce, you’ll have nothing to talk about. So, why not crypto?

You’re in luck, we have some piping hot headlines for your conversational dead ends.

Espresso Shots

☕️ FTX was Bankman-Fried’s “Personal Fiefdom” 👑 🏔

FTX’s Bankruptcy hearings began in Delaware on Tuesday and it quickly became clear what message the lawyers intended to deliver: It was all Sam.

Lawyers for FTX’s new John Ray regime detailed the “unprecedented” rise and fall of FTX, specifically highlighting the “lack of corporate controls,” never before seen.

FTX lawyers did not go easy on SBF and his friend-group calling them “inexperienced,” “unsophisticated,” and “compromised individuals.” Ouch.

FTX lawyers went on to refer to the company as Bankman-Fried’s “personal fiefdom” before later saying that it turned out “the emperor has no clothes.”

In this case, that’s not totally true, as the emperor has a near endless supply of cargo shorts.

☕️ Sam Bankman-Fried's Depressing Apology 😭 📝

In a letter sent to the remaining staff at FTX, the former CEO, and now primary suspect, expressed regret over many things... But oddly not about stealing hundreds of millions.

Sam Bankman-Fried no longer works for FTX but a current employee sent a letter from him into the company Slack, and it’s a bit of a weird one.

Oddly enough one thing Bankman-Fried did express regret about was not saying enough. “I froze up in the face of pressure and leaks… and said nothing.”

Bankman-Fried's regrets sound like the sad lyrics of one of Eminem’s post-rehab albums. Let’s hope he won’t just stand there and watch us burn.

☕️ Rockstar Ousts Web3 🎸 💰

Rockstar Games has declared that cryptocurrencies and NFTs will no longer be utilized on their Grand Theft Auto V servers.

When fans run servers, they like to curate their own experiences. This means filling the game with things they want like lightsabers, giant head mods, and of course, NFTs and crypto.

Rockstar is following in Microsoft’s footsteps after Microsoft banned all Web3 elements from fan-run Minecraft servers.

NFTs were being used on both servers for rare items such as weapons and vehicles, but Microsoft claimed that this kind of intentional scarcity goes, “against the spirit of Minecraft.”

It’s unclear if NFTs and cryptocurrencies actually go “against the spirit” of GTA, but it’s vital that the game stays true to itself and its core virtues: killing sex workers and driving on the sidewalk.

Spilling the Beans

Is SOL S.O.L? ☀️ 📉

Weeks ago we did a full write up on Solana’s Breakpoint conference and the sunny outlook for the ecosystem… Well, things have changed. A lot.

Solana looks to be in free fall at the moment, with SOL hitting $11 yesterday for the first time since February of 2021 when it first rose to prominence.

This has been a shocking 96% fall from Solana’s peak of $259 in November of 2021.

So is Solana shit-outta-luck? Or is there still hope for the coin?

Well one reason things look bad:

The coin is currently suffering from the same problem everyone else is dealing with: Sam Bankman-Fried.

SBF was a huge advocate of and investor in Solana, and his demise has spelled volatility for SOL in recent weeks.

Making things even bleaker:

There are still questions over how closely tied Sam Bankman-Fried and Solana remain. 

SBF’s company Alameda Research was the second largest holder of SOL - a holding which will likely need to be liquidated if it hasn’t been already.

Solana was once billed as the Ethereum Killer but at the moment it hardly looks healthy enough to stay alive on its own.

With one of its largest evangelists facing bankruptcy and jail time, Solana may need another hero to save it.

On the bright(ish) side:

The SOL forecast may still have some sunny days.

The Solana ecosystem has had some thriving contributors from the Magic Eden NFT marketplace to Solana mobile phones, and a healthy contingent of diehard fans.

Many of Solana’s early adopters helped the coin rise to prominence as an alternative to the larger protocols that had a more significant impact on the environment.

But:

Solana was supposed to be a green alternative to Ethereum.

Yet, since the merge, Ethereum is now energy-efficient and there are no shortage of other energy-efficient protocols.

Solana was supposed to be the fastest network, allowing hundreds of thousands of transactions per second.

Yet it currently only manages 2-3,000 a second, dwarfed by protocols like Hedera, Fantom, Cosmos and Avalanche.

So what makes Solana special suddenly doesn’t seem all that special.

On this question, we’ll avoid predicting the death of any protocol, but as the harsh crypto winter rages on, it’s getting harder to see where Sol can shine.

Meme of the Day

Best we can do is laugh until we cry. 😭

The Last Sip

Hey, you’re probably wondering about our holiday schedule!

Well don't you worry, we'll be right here with ya, eating and sharing the news while in a tryptophan comas and recovering from that unofficial high school reunion we mentioned earlier.

We’re thankful to have you with us on our crypto journey! 🦃

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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